Bacon, Leek, Potato and cheese pie

Thought I had better give you the recipe for this as I had raved about it the other night, so here you go.  As usual I haven't stuck rigidly to the recipe (I never do!).

4oz Pastry - I used shortcrust, the recipe says use Flaky, but I don't see that it matters.  You can use frozen for this or homemade

Filling -
1 medium leek - I used two smaller ones and found that four of this size would be better
2 medium potatoes
7oz smoked bacon
1oz butter - the recipe says to use clarified, but I couldn't be bothered so used it straight from the pack
4 fl oz Milk
3 fl oz Single cream - I used double cream as I didn't have any single and it was fine
2 beaten eggs
2 tsps dried mixed herbs - I left out as I didn't have any
2 oz grated Double Gloucester cheese - I just used strong Cheddar instead, but used about 4oz
Salt and Pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 190C / 375F / Gas 5
• Slice leeks into approx 1cm rounds and wash thoroughly
• Peel and thinly slice the potatoes
• Trim off the bacon rind and roughly chop
• Roll out the pastry and line a 20cm flan dish, trimming the edges
• Fry the bacon under the fat starts to render and it starts to go crispy.  Set aside on kitchen paper
• Cook the leeks in the same pan and set aside with the bacon once soft
• Add the butter and fry the potatoes until just coloured - you may have to do several batches
• Spoon the leeks and bacon into the flan dish
• I then added a generous layer of grated cheese and sliced a couple of tomatoes over the top
• Arrange the potato slices over the top, overlapping to cover the other ingredients
• Beat together the milk, cream, eggs, herbs and season well
• Pour over the potatoes and top with more grated cheese
• Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, covering with foil if it starts to brown too much

This is great served with a simple salad or with whatever veg you have available like we did.

Enjoy!

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 7

Sales -

1 dozen eggs £1.80

1 x 1Kg Onions £1.00

Expenses -

Nil

Pizza anyone?

We like nothing better in this house than a home-made pizza, they are a firm favourite and get requested often.

Back in June, we were on our way to the British Museum for the day to see the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition, (bear with me - you'll get the gist in a minute!), and Michael always insists on getting his Saturday morning Times newspaper to read on the train.  I nabbed the middle section where the foodie bit is and lo and behold that week's special was pizza's; I read on with interest.  It wasn't the actual ingredients that intrigued me, it was the way they were cooking it - on the hob, then under the grill - I'll explain as we go.

Remember that bread recipe I made a couple of weeks ago, well I use the same mix to make the pizza bases.  One 300g mix will make four pizzas, plus I then use the tomato sauce recipe to put straight on the base.

It's best to have all your pizza toppings ready to go, ie. cut up, sliced etc, before you start cooking.

Heat a large non stick frying pan on the hob, with a tiny splash of olive oil in the bottom until really hot, turn on the grill too.
Cut the dough into four pieces and roll out into rounds about 5mm thick.

Place a pizza base in the bottom of the hot pan.  Keep checking the bottom of it by lifting up the edge, you don't want it to burn.
Spread your tomato sauce over the base, then add your toppings.  A note on adding the mozzarella - rip it into small pieces rather than slicing it, it will cook quicker.

Michael's one with Chorizo and chillies

Once the base is cooked, swiftly place under the grill, under the cheese is bubbling and the edges are brown and crispy.

Michael's one cooked

My one cooked - with proscuitto and basil

Eat straight away.

They taste delicious and are so quick and easy to make, the only down side to them is, that I can cook only one at a time as I only have one large frying pan, so Michael has usually eaten his by the time I put mine on the plate!

Enjoy!

Great British Bake off inspiration

Inspired by the new series of the Great British Bake off, and keeping smallholding traditions alive, I've dug out an old favourite of ours - Chocolate Courgette Cake, don't worry you can't really taste the courgettes, it's a bit like the carrots in carrot cake.

I found this recipe in an edition of a smallholders magazine, cut it out and stuck in into one of my home-made recipe books.  I can't remember which magazine it was in, it was a number of years ago now, but I bring it out every year in courgette glut season.

Ingredients -

200g / 7oz Plain flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Salt
115g / 4oz Sugar - I used granulated
2 Eggs
175ml / 6 fl oz Vegetable oil - I used sunflower
175g / 6oz Plain chocolate - use the best you can afford, I used Bournville
225g / 8oz Courgettes - doesn't matter what colour, mine were yellow

• Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and sugar

• Beat the eggs with the oil in a separate bowl

• Place the chocolate in a Bain Marie, or in a bowl over a pan of hot water and let it melt slowly over the heat, don't let the chocolate bubble
• Grate the courgettes and squeeze them gently to get rid of excess moisture
• Beat the eggs and oil mixture into the dry ingredients and stir in the melted chocolate and courgettes

• Spread the mixture into a greased cake tin, I used a deep round one that I make the Christmas cake in, and bake at 180Deg C / 350Deg F / Gas 4, for between 30 - 60 minutes.  If you find the top getting burnt and the inside still yet to finish cooking, place a sheet of tin foil over the top.
• Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool.  Serve on its own or with cream, yoghurt etc

The finished cake - enjoy!

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 10

Sales -

1/2 dozen eggs £0.90

Expenses - 

Nil

Fab tomato recipe

I was watching Saturday Farm a couple of weekends ago with Dick Strawbridge (of telly smallholding fame), and he demonstrated a recipe of Tomato Tarte Tatin.

Now I'm always a fan of using home grown produce, but am never that imaginative, I always need a little help in that direction.  So watching him demonstrate the recipe was great, he made it look really easy and it was a brilliant way of using up a lot of tomatoes in one go.  Here's how he, then I did it -

Ingredients -
Pack of frozen puff pastry - I've since done the recipe again and tried it with half of one slab of pastry and it worked fine.
8-10 Large tomatoes - depending on the size of your dish
1 Onion or up to six shallots
Slug of Olive oil
Several good shakes of Balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 180 degrees Centigrade, Gas 4
Slice the tomatoes horizontally - so you have the nice pattern, i.e. not down through the stalk
Chop onion finely
Heat the slug of olive oil in a large frying pan and add onion. Cook and let them caramelise slightly.
Add the tomatoes to the pan, cut side down to start with, turning them over when they just start to break down.
Grease your dish with butter, I use one that is about 20 cm across.
Roll out your pastry, then place dish on top and cut round, slightly bigger than the dish.
Add a good few shakes of balsamic vinegar to the tomato pan, plus the salt and pepper, let this cook for a minute, then take off the heat.  Take each tomato half and place cut side down in your dish, then spread the onions over, adding any juice from the pan too.
Place your pastry on the top and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
Take out of the oven, the pastry should be lightly browned and risen, see pic below.

Take a dinner plate and placing it over the top of the dish, then invert, to leave the tomatoes on the top and pastry on the bottom.

The finished article - juice will come out of the tomatoes, because of their freshness

I served mine with potato wedges and a side salad - all from the garden of course!  The second time I made it I used Plum sauce instead of Balsamic vinegar and it tasted excellent too.

Do let me know if you try this and what ingredients you use.  It would look fabulous with different coloured tomatoes and maybe some spring onions too for extra colour.  It's also really tasty cold - if it lasts that long!

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 12

Sales -
Nil

Expenses -
Nil

The best and easiest crumble recipe EVER!

This is just the best crumble recipe ever, or so I've found up to now!  AND it's so easy - Bonus!

I even make double batches because it freezes so well.

Taken from Prue's New Country Kitchen, by Prue Coats, pages 152-153, which is available on Amazon, starting at just one penny, plus P&P.

900g Fruit - any you like, I frequently use apples, plums, rhubarb, rasps, or even a mixture of tinned fruit.
Sugar

175g Plain flour
110g Butter
110g Demerara Sugar - to be honest I just use whatever I've got, light brown, granulated white etc
75g Rolled Oats - again I use whatever oats I've got - porridge etc
75g Flaked almonds
75g Ground almonds

Pre heat oven to 200 Deg C/400 Deg F/Gas Mark 6
Cook the fruit lightly, spoon into a dish and allow to cool, sweeten to taste with the sugar if required - I don't tend to bother cooking or sweetening it before I put it in the oven.

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
Mix in the rest of the other ingredients
Spoon over the fruit and bake for 30 - 40 minutes
Serve with custard, ice cream, creme fraiche - whichever is your favourite

ENJOY!